From organizing her day and committing to her program choices, a Runoia girl learns how to clean, organize, plan, be accountable and be on time, dressed and ready for each different activity.
Whether in a sailboat, on the ropes course, creating an impromptu skit, building a boat that can float from a few precious materials or working on the camp play, she experiences many activities. Activities that require collaboration with friends and co-campers. Creative and innovative thinking go hand in hand when she is working on a team or individual camp project.
Walking around camp, participating in activities, running during games, playing different sports and most importantly not being ferried around by car or golf cart improves her fitness, builds muscle and tone and prepares her for fall sports. Speaking of sports, she have the chance to improve skills in sports through small group sports practice at camp: swimming, tennis, running, riding, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, windsurfing, canoeing, kayaking and more!
R-E-A-D – “I said a book read a book!” Runoia celebrates reading, has a book club, a word of the day and cabin groups read aloud every night! Out of school time analysts have proven that the diminishing returns of summer out of school time and lack of learning, reading and STEM is cause for concern in the US. Reading is part of everyday life and culture at Runoia.
Other STEM related activities happen daily: calculating points of sail, counting up target scores, estimating strides between jumps and pushing your horse to meet them, anticipating the arc of a tennis bounce and more all happens at camp and helps prepare children for re-entry to the school year. Our eight arts programs help children to explore creativity in different media from pottery to batik, wood burning to crafts, wood working to stained glass and more!
As a Runoia camper navigates her daily program and activities, she also encounters many different social situations, people she interacts with, adults who provide her clear instruction and feed back and she has an opportunity to learn with joy and ambition and without fear of humiliation or shame.
Trying new things without fear of failure, learning from mistakes, building skills in new area all are positive brain stimulants leading to increased aptitude, skill and self esteem. So in addition to being a lot of fun, sleepaway camp at Runoia is a profound experience for our Runoia gals that helps her to build life long skills and return to school a bit stronger and a lot wiser!
Until next week,
Aionur